Edwina Hart AM
Open Resolution – a new financial services company is setting up its head office and operations centre in Cardiff creating nearly ninety new jobs with Welsh Government support, the Economy Minister Edwina Hart announced today.
The business specialises in offering credit file correction services – checking, validating and correcting the credit rating of individuals.
Tens of millions of credit searches are conducted every year by a wide range of companies and organizations with a high proportion assessed on incorrect or incomplete information in credit files.
As a result many are refused access to credit, products and services or offered sub prime rates and terms. It can also have a significant detrimental effect on a person’s ability to gain employment.
Credit file correction services is a massive billion dollar industry in the USA but a relatively niche but growing market in the UK with huge growth potential.
The £375,000 investment by Open Resolution – which will create eighty nine jobs – is supported by a further £250,000 business finance from the Welsh Government. This secured the project for Wales as the company were considering outsourcing the sales function to a third party provider in India.
Economy Minister Edwina Hart said:” This is great news and yet another important investment in the Welsh financial and professional services sector. I am delighted Welsh Government support helped attract Open Resolution’s head office functions to Cardiff.
“Financial and Professional services is one of our key economic sectors with high growth potential and we are creating the optimum environment for business growth to make Wales the location of choice for companies looking to expand or relocate.
“We have a compelling proposition and with the £1.5bn investment in the electrification of the main London Rail link, together with the Crossrail development, means Cardiff will only be two hours from the global Financial & Professional Services markets of the city of London and Canary Wharf.
“Open Resolution is a welcome addition to the sector with plans to grow its business rapidly and create a significant number of new jobs and I wish it every success.”
Open Resolution, which is licensed by the Financial Conduct Authority, was established by Steve Bloor, a director of the Cardiff based Independent Financial Resolutions (IFR) Group.
IFR, based in Central Cardiff Enterprise Zone, has agreed Open Resolution can initially use some of its existing infrastructure and resources including IT, telephony and existing website to cut start up costs and accelerate delivery. Open Resolution will then develop the business as a fully stand-alone operation.
MD Steve Bloor said:” Funding from the Welsh Government played a critical role in our decision to base the business in Wales as opposed to outsourcing and we are looking to launch the business in the autumn and create the jobs over the next eighteen months.
“Part of our aim is to educate people about the importance of a credit score – you simply cannot just accept your rating is correct as research has shown that very many credit files contain incorrect information.
“This can influence so many areas of a person’s life and impact on everything from getting a mortgage to a mobile phone contract, from renting a house to getting a job.
“There are hundreds of thousands of people who are declined credit every month and historically there has not been a solution to help people check and validate their score.
“People can access their credit rating but correcting inaccuracies is not straightforward which is where we have the skills and expertise to help.”
Open Resolution will offer a direct on-line application service and plans to enter into arrangements with other financial services companies to help customers reduce their outgoings by securing cheaper mortgages, credit and other services once their credit files have been corrected.
Recruitment is starting immediately and interested in applying for the roles should email their details to [email protected].
